''Exit 0'' is the second studio album from American singer-songwriter

Steve Earle Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American country, rock, and folk singer-songwriter. He began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Earle's breakthrough album was his 1986 debut album '' ...

(credited to Steve Earle & The Dukes), released in 1987. Earle was nominated for a 1988 Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male, for the album. The album was recorded digitally, using the Mitsubishi X-800 at

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

's Emerald Studios. All of the album's ten tracks were written or co-written by Earle. Earle and his band played live shows regularly during breaks in recording. ''Exit 0'' is stylistically very similar to its predecessor, ''

Guitar Town ''Guitar Town'' is the debut studio album from American singer-songwriter Steve Earle, released on March 5, 1986. It topped the ''Billboard'' country album charts, and the title song reached #7 on the country singles charts. Earle was also no ...

'', and was Earle's final pure-country album before incorporating

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

with country on his next releases. It is today described by

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

as "livelier stuff than nearly anyone in Nashville was cranking out at the time".

Track listing

All songs written by

unless otherwise noted.

Personnel

;The Dukes *

Bucky Baxter William "Bucky" Baxter (1955May 25, 2020) was an American guitarist. He is best known as a member of Steve Earle, Steve Earle and The Dukes and as a member of Bob Dylan's backing band in the mid-90s during the Never Ending Tour. He released hi ...

–

steel guitar A steel guitar () is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar i ...

, vocals *Steve Earle – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica *Reno Kling – bass guitar *Mike McAdam – 6- and 12-string electric guitars, vocals *Ken Moore –

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

, synthesizer, vocals * Harry Stinson – drums, vocals With: * John Jarvis – piano *

Emory Gordy, Jr. Emory Lee Gordy Jr. (born December 25, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter and music producer. A former member of Emmylou Harris' backing band The Hot Band, he is best known for his association with country singer Patty Loveless, to whom h ...

–

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

* Richard Bennett – acoustic guitar, electric guitar,

6-string bass An extended-range bass is an electric bass guitar with a wider frequency range than a standard-tuned four-string bass guitar. Terminology One way that a bass can be considered ''extended-range'' is to use a mechanical detuner, a special tun ...

*K-Meaux Boudin –

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

;Technical *

Chuck Ainlay Chuck Ainlay is an American record producer and audio engineer. He has worked with Mark Knopfler on much of Knopfler's solo work, in addition to some Dire Straits material. He has 4 Grammy Awards and 5 nominations. Along with Knopfler and Bob Lu ...

– recording, mixing *Jim DeVault – front cover photography

Chart performance

References

1987 albums Steve Earle albums Albums produced by Tony Brown (record producer) Albums produced by Emory Gordy Jr. Albums produced by Richard Bennett (guitarist) MCA Records albums {{1980s-country-album-stub